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2005.08.19

My Vegan Tipping Point

"The angle of repose is sometimes used as a synonym for the tipping point. To understand the origin of the term, consider a person who leans back in a chair. If the person tips back beyond a certain angle, then the chair will tip over and the person will fall onto his or her back. That angle is the angle of repose, and it is analogized to apply to any process in which beyond a certain point, the rate at which the process (chemical, sociological, etc.) proceeds increases dramatically."(source)

What was my "vegan tipping point?" What was the final neural link, the end synaptic snap, the sudden thought imperative that enabled me to declare, "I be vegan!" and, in my case, eschew all dairy products?

I had been a vegetarian for some 22+ years..... vegan 3 or so years since then.... my initial spiritual and health-related experiment soon evolved into a greater sensitivity to the environmental devastation caused by meat consumption, as well as realizing the hideous way our "farmed" animals are treated. Not eating anything with a face became a significant guiding principle in my life.... yet ironically, didn't encompass "dairy."

Not eating eggs was easy. But cheese? Pizza? Again and again, I remember thinking "naw, it's not necessary." I also recall believing that my vegan friends were extreme and arrogant regarding their disdain of milk and dairy products. "Yeah, the animals producing these products were maltreated," I would mumble to myself, "but my consumption of such would be after the fact." That rationalization comforted me for years. Although I cut back in quantity, I still had my occasional cheese fix (pizza!), and I did know that I'd eventually go vegan, but there was no compelling immediate reason to do so "now."

Strangely enough, with all the examples and influences of FARM, AR
conferences, and the Mad Cowboy's sterling example of veganism, what
became the tipping point for me came from the NotMilkMan: Robert
Cohen. In his daily free NotMilk Yahoo Group e-column (to over 5,500 subscribers and the inspiration for the Mad Cowboy Newsletter, which I edit), he posted one particular column that PUShed me over the line:

Pus cells.....

Robert, bless his feisty soul, pulled out statistics from the U.S. government detailing the the average measured amount of pus cells per liter of milk by State. 400 millions cells is the European limit (little over half
of ours). He wrote: "...we learn that pus cell counts continue to
rise in America. They have been doing so since the advent of
genetically engineered milk. Stressed cows become sick and their milk
contains more pus. It's as simple as that."

Robert pointed out that the U.S. numbers were ALL over recommended European levels.

Sick cows. Pus cells. It wasn't the hormones, it wasn't the
fat, it wasn't the relationship to many bodily disorders, it wasn't
that it was Mother's Milk from another species. It wasn't these truths
and the inhumane conditions the cows were raised in, that tipped me
over.

It was the cold, hard, and unassailable
fact: you drink milk, you eat cheese, you consume cow pus cells. They
are concentrated in cheese and our government allows this to be.

It was like eating an Apple at the Garden of Eden. Once ya know, ya can't forget.

Pus cells......

"I be Vegan!" I declared to myself. And that was that.

(... and I'm not sure if I should thank Mr. Cohen, or curse him... a sympathy probably shared by many...)

I had to do a persuasive speech for my public speaking class and I did it on the horrors of dairy - with a liter bottle to really gross them out. Since then-I had tried to stay away from dairy (milk was easy, it was cheese, butter and ice cream that were hard). Then something else on Rob's (www.notmilk.com) site really tipped me over-milk is bad, but it takes 10 pounds of milk to make cheese (concentrated pus anyone???) and 20 pounds of milk to make butter (block'o'pus on toast-yum!). That was it for me. Thanks for this blog - I just found it and as a new vegan-it has a lot of great tips!!!

[Glad to help! It's always great to know that something I've been doing is useful for others. Yup, cheese is the hardest, but over time, you'll find it gets easier... 'sides... there are some decent substitutes out there (albeit, expensive at times)... Best regards, Mark]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! As a long time vegetatarian and one who as waivered on be vegan over the years your statement comes to me on the heals of my doctor's order to cut the saturated fat out of my diet to help lower by cholesterol level. I wondered how can I cut out cheese since I thought I loved it so much. Gag reflex is pretty strong and now my job just got easier. I am just going to have to go "cold turkey" but that statement just somehow doesn't seem quite right. Anyhow, who would knowingly eat such a thing as PUS Cells- YUCK!

[Thanks for the note! It can be done. I started out learning to like pizza with grilled vegetables and no-cheese sub, then buying subs, and now I make them myself (more like a custard). If you go to the "no dairy" blog I've listed you'll find some. Web searches work well to.

But yup... I ignored the animal cruety aspect to dairy (regrettably), but the "pus cells" just couldn't be ignore... Best regards, Mark ]

Well, cow pus is the tipping point for me as well! I have tried the vegan diet for about 1 year but then added dairy and cheese back in my diet. No more! Cow pus has gotten the old gag reflex working for sure. I guess I should say, Thanks ??? (just kidding)
((((Go Vegan))))